SEARCH BY KEYWORD

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The students cut out or print out the ad they've chosen for their characters, in order to turn the ads in with their resumes.

Each student writes a letter of application, following business letter format, from the character to the company offering the job. If desired, students can use the Letter Generator to format and print their letters.

Finally, the student completes a resume for the character. Any names, dates, or places must be connected to the plot or the setting of the literary piece.

Type final versions of the two documents using a word processor. Alternatively, you have studednts continue work on their drafts for homework, asking them to submit their work at the beginning of the next session.

EXTENSIONS

Based on student need and experience, you might add a mini-lesson that will help students strengthen their word choice. The Purdue OWL resource Action Verbs to Describe Skills, Jobs, and Accomplishments in Employment Documents provides a great list of strong, action verbs that are appropriate for resumes and job application correspondence. Demonstrate the process of revising for stronger word choice, using the list and modeling how to use the dictionary and thesaurus as necessary. Ideally, students should have dictionaries and thesauruses on hand as well. Divide students into small groups, and challenge them to add at least three action words to each person's resume. Students can revise and submit their documents at the end of class or the beginning of the next session.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

Informal feedback from students who respond to the resumes and job application letters and then search out the related book is excellent feedback for students. You might make arrangements with your school library to display copies of the documents in a notebook. Students looking for something to read can then browse through the notebook for suggestions.